The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for primary binding of a tubular casing especially a fibrous casing used in smoking processed meat products such as roast ham, boneless ham or the like in which one end of the casing is bound.
With reference to FIG. 1, it has been known to provide a salted meat product with a fibrous casing 1 having a length of several tens centimeters for smoking a sausage-shaped meat product. In such a casing, a looped string 2 for hanging the product is, as shown in FIG. 1, attached to the fibrous casing 1 retained by a metal ring 3. If necessary, a number of punched holes 4 each having a diameter of about 3 mm are formed near the metal ring 3 of the fibrous casing shown in FIG. 1 in order to permit air to escape therethrough when the casing is filled with the meat product.
Also, if desired, a number of smaller needled holes 5 may be provided over the fibrous casing in order to permit smoke to permeate. The needled holes also serve to discharge extra moisture or fat in the product outwardly. Finally, the end of the fibrous casing opposite the string is bound as a second binding after the casing is filled with the meat product. The final product is shown in FIG. 2.
In manufacturing such casings, a web of fibrous casing material is fed from a supply roll of the casing material and cut into predetermined lengths. Thereafter, in the prior art technique, the casing is manually converged at one end with a crease and bound by using a metal ring with a doubly folded string in the form of a loop thereby providing the primary binding. However, even a skilled person can produce no more than ten such casings per minute. Consequently, there is a demand for automatic production of casings also because the work is tiresome and simple.
Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for automating the above-described primary binding work and for automatically perforating (punching if necessary) creating creases, folding the creases, binding the casing using a metal ring with a string, and tearing the casing at the perforated holes.